In current evolved Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (“eMBMS”) networks established according to the 3rd Generation Partnership Projects (“3GPP”) Technical Standard (“TS”) 26.346 Release 11 (the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference) generally only one File Delivery Over Unidirectional Transport (“FLUTE”)(as described in Internet Engineering Task Force (“IETF”) Request For Comments (“RFC”) 6726, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference) session is assigned for each service.
A one FLUTE session to one service correspondence can present challenges, such as challenges in applying forward error correction, content scheduling complications in network infrastructure, encoder requirements to support multiplexed representations, etc., in scenarios in which services include two or more data streams. Additionally, if multiple FLUTE sessions are generated for a service, current systems present challenges in identifying which type of content for a service is associated with which FLUTE session of the multiple FLUTE sessions.
One example of a scenario in which a service includes two or more data streams is a multimedia streaming service including one or more audio streams and one or more video streams. Another example of a scenario in which a service includes two or more data streams is a Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (“DASH”) service including multiple video streams each associated with different camera angle views, multiple audio streams each associated with different languages, and multiple timed-text streams each associated with different languages. A further example of a scenario in which a service includes two or more data streams is a real time streaming service providing non-real time (“NRT”) data with the real time stream, such as a live sporting event service in which a real time video stream, real time audio stream, and non-real time sports statistics are provided or a live music concert in which a real time video stream, real time audio stream, and non-real time artist information and upcoming tour calendars are provided. Approaches to provide the data associated with services including two or more data streams via a single FLUTE session—such as multiplexing, interleaving, file bundling, and file repetition—present challenges, such as challenges in applying forward error correction, content scheduling complications in network infrastructure, encoder requirements to support multiplexed DASH representations, etc.